Again on the Nature of Inheritance of Chemotype

Abstract

In Vol. 7, no. 1, 2002 of JIH, Karl Hillig reviewed a paper by Sytnik and Stelmah published in JIHA (Vol. 6, no. 1, 1999). Hillig criticized the conclusions drawn by the authors from their experiments, because the authors failed to keep distinct the qualitative and quantitative aspects of cannabinoid inheritance, and consequently contradict their own evidence. I think that in both Sytnik and Stelmah’s paper and in Hillig’s comments there is matter for reflection. To avoid misunderstanding, I will call here “chemotype” the chemical type of a plant; the chemotype can adequately be expressed as the CBD/THC content ratio, and appears to be under the control of a single gene. The experiments presented by de Meijer et al. (Genetics 163: 335-346, 2003) and Mandolino et al. (JIH, 8 (2): 51-72), as well as evidence from other authors, clearly indicate the simple mendelian nature of chemotype, determined by a single locus